SummaryWhen faced with a threat, an animal must decide whether to freeze, reducing its chances of being noticed, or to flee to the safety of a refuge. Animals from fish to primates choose between these two alternatives when confronted by an attacking predator, a choice that largely depends on the context in which the threat occurs. Recent work has made strides identifying the pre-motor circuits, and their inputs, which control freezing behavior in rodents, but how contextual information is integrated to guide this choice is still far from understood. We recently found that fruit flies in response to visual looming stimuli, simulating a large object on collision course, make rapid freeze/flee choices that depend on the social and spatial environment, and the fly’s internal state. Further, identification of looming detector neurons was recently reported and we identified the descending command neurons, DNp09, responsible for freezing in the fly. Knowing the sensory input and descending output for looming-evoked freezing, two environmental factors that modulate its expression, and using a genetically tractable system affording the use of large sample sizes, places us in an unique position to understand how a information about a threat is integrated with cues from the environment to guide the choice of whether to freeze (our goal). To assess how social information impinges on the circuit for freezing, we will examine the sensory inputs and neuromodulators that mediate this process, mapping their connections to DNp09 neurons (Aim 1). We ask whether learning is required for the spatial modulation of freezing, which cues flies are using to discriminate different places and which brain circuits mediate this process (Aim 2). Finally, we will study how activity of DNp09 neurons drives freezing (Aim 3). This project will provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of freezing and its modulation by the environment, from single neurons to behaviour.

When faced with a threat, an animal must decide whether to freeze, reducing its chances of being noticed, or to flee to the safety of a refuge. Animals from fish to primates choose between these two alternatives when confronted by an attacking predator, a choice that largely depends on the context in which the threat occurs. Recent work has made strides identifying the pre-motor circuits, and their inputs, which control freezing behavior in rodents, but how contextual information is integrated to guide this choice is still far from understood. We recently found that fruit flies in response to visual looming stimuli, simulating a large object on collision course, make rapid freeze/flee choices that depend on the social and spatial environment, and the fly’s internal state. Further, identification of looming detector neurons was recently reported and we identified the descending command neurons, DNp09, responsible for freezing in the fly. Knowing the sensory input and descending output for looming-evoked freezing, two environmental factors that modulate its expression, and using a genetically tractable system affording the use of large sample sizes, places us in an unique position to understand how a information about a threat is integrated with cues from the environment to guide the choice of whether to freeze (our goal). To assess how social information impinges on the circuit for freezing, we will examine the sensory inputs and neuromodulators that mediate this process, mapping their connections to DNp09 neurons (Aim 1). We ask whether learning is required for the spatial modulation of freezing, which cues flies are using to discriminate different places and which brain circuits mediate this process (Aim 2). Finally, we will study how activity of DNp09 neurons drives freezing (Aim 3). This project will provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of freezing and its modulation by the environment, from single neurons to behaviour.

Max ERC Funding

1 969 750 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31

Project acronymContentMAP

ProjectContentotopic mapping: the topographical organization of object knowledge in the brain

Researcher (PI)Jorge ALMEIDA

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2018-STG

SummaryOur ability to recognize an object amongst many others is one of the most important features of the human mind. However, object recognition requires tremendous computational effort, as we need to solve a complex and recursive environment with ease and proficiency. This challenging feat is dependent on the implementation of an effective organization of knowledge in the brain. In ContentMAP I will put forth a novel understanding of how object knowledge is organized in the brain, by proposing that this knowledge is topographically laid out in the cortical surface according to object-related dimensions that code for different types of representational content – I will call this contentotopic mapping. To study this fine-grain topography, I will use a combination of fMRI, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. I will first obtain patterns of neural and cognitive similarity between objects, and from these extract object-related dimensions using a dimensionality reduction technique. I will then parametrically manipulate these dimensions with an innovative use of a visual field mapping technique, and test how functional selectivity changes across the cortical surface according to an object’s score on a target dimension. Moreover, I will test the tuning function of these contentotopic maps. Finally, to mirror the complexity of implementing a high-dimensional manifold onto a 2D cortical sheet, I will aggregate the topographies for the different dimensions into a composite map, and develop an encoding model to predict neural signatures for each object. To sum up, ContentMAP will have a dramatic impact in the cognitive sciences by describing how the stuff of concepts is represented in the brain, and providing a complete description of how fine-grain representations and functional selectivity within high-level complex processes are topographically implemented.

Our ability to recognize an object amongst many others is one of the most important features of the human mind. However, object recognition requires tremendous computational effort, as we need to solve a complex and recursive environment with ease and proficiency. This challenging feat is dependent on the implementation of an effective organization of knowledge in the brain. In ContentMAP I will put forth a novel understanding of how object knowledge is organized in the brain, by proposing that this knowledge is topographically laid out in the cortical surface according to object-related dimensions that code for different types of representational content – I will call this contentotopic mapping. To study this fine-grain topography, I will use a combination of fMRI, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. I will first obtain patterns of neural and cognitive similarity between objects, and from these extract object-related dimensions using a dimensionality reduction technique. I will then parametrically manipulate these dimensions with an innovative use of a visual field mapping technique, and test how functional selectivity changes across the cortical surface according to an object’s score on a target dimension. Moreover, I will test the tuning function of these contentotopic maps. Finally, to mirror the complexity of implementing a high-dimensional manifold onto a 2D cortical sheet, I will aggregate the topographies for the different dimensions into a composite map, and develop an encoding model to predict neural signatures for each object. To sum up, ContentMAP will have a dramatic impact in the cognitive sciences by describing how the stuff of concepts is represented in the brain, and providing a complete description of how fine-grain representations and functional selectivity within high-level complex processes are topographically implemented.

Max ERC Funding

1 816 004 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31

Project acronymCORKtheCAMBIA

ProjectThickening of plant organs by nested stem cells

Researcher (PI)Ari Pekka MÄHÖNEN

Host Institution (HI)HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), LS3, ERC-2018-COG

SummaryGrowth originates from meristems, where stem cells are located. Lateral meristems, which provide thickness to tree stems and other plant organs, include vascular cambium (produces xylem [wood] and phloem); and cork cambium (forms cork, a tough protective layer).
We recently identified the molecular mechanism that specifies stem cells of vascular cambium. Unexpectedly, this same set of experiments revealed also novel aspects of the regulation of cork cambium, a meristem whose development has remained unknown. CORKtheCAMBIA aims to identify the stem cells of cork cambium and reveal how they mechanistically regulate plant organ thickening. Thus, stemming from these novel unpublished findings and my matching expertise on plant stem cells and lateral growth, the timing is perfect to discover the molecular mechanism underlying specification of stem cells of cork cambium.
To identify the origin of stem cells of cork cambium, 1st-we will combine lineage tracing with a detailed molecular marker analysis. To deduce the cell dynamics of cork cambium, 2nd-we will follow regeneration of the stem cells after ablation of this meristem. To discover the molecular factors regulating the stem cell specification of cork cambium, 3rd-we will utilize molecular genetics and a novel method (inducible CRISPR/Cas9 mutant targeting) being developed in my lab. Since the lateral growth is orchestrated by two adjacent, nested meristems, cork and vascular cambia, the growth process must be tightly co-regulated. Thus, 4th-an in silico model of the intertwined growth process will be generated. By combining modelling with experimentation, we will uncover mechanistically how cork and vascular cambium coordinate lateral growth.
CORKtheCAMBIA will thus provide long-awaited insight into the regulatory mechanisms specifying the stem cells of lateral meristem as whole, lay the foundation for studies on radial thickening and facilitate rational manipulation of lateral meristems of crop plants and trees.

Growth originates from meristems, where stem cells are located. Lateral meristems, which provide thickness to tree stems and other plant organs, include vascular cambium (produces xylem [wood] and phloem); and cork cambium (forms cork, a tough protective layer).
We recently identified the molecular mechanism that specifies stem cells of vascular cambium. Unexpectedly, this same set of experiments revealed also novel aspects of the regulation of cork cambium, a meristem whose development has remained unknown. CORKtheCAMBIA aims to identify the stem cells of cork cambium and reveal how they mechanistically regulate plant organ thickening. Thus, stemming from these novel unpublished findings and my matching expertise on plant stem cells and lateral growth, the timing is perfect to discover the molecular mechanism underlying specification of stem cells of cork cambium.
To identify the origin of stem cells of cork cambium, 1st-we will combine lineage tracing with a detailed molecular marker analysis. To deduce the cell dynamics of cork cambium, 2nd-we will follow regeneration of the stem cells after ablation of this meristem. To discover the molecular factors regulating the stem cell specification of cork cambium, 3rd-we will utilize molecular genetics and a novel method (inducible CRISPR/Cas9 mutant targeting) being developed in my lab. Since the lateral growth is orchestrated by two adjacent, nested meristems, cork and vascular cambia, the growth process must be tightly co-regulated. Thus, 4th-an in silico model of the intertwined growth process will be generated. By combining modelling with experimentation, we will uncover mechanistically how cork and vascular cambium coordinate lateral growth.
CORKtheCAMBIA will thus provide long-awaited insight into the regulatory mechanisms specifying the stem cells of lateral meristem as whole, lay the foundation for studies on radial thickening and facilitate rational manipulation of lateral meristems of crop plants and trees.

SummaryThe current political and institutional crises render the future of European democracy uncertain. To gain deeper insights into what the current discontent may lead to, and how to address it for the good of an equal and inclusive democracy, we have to study future political actors, today’s young citizens, and examine what are the means of political action prevalent to them. The public sphere of today’s youth is increasingly dominated by visual content, and therefore the visual dimension of political participation is to be a key concern in research thereof. The current youth’s understanding of political action – building arguments, mobilizing, and participating – is likely to become firmly anchored in repertoires of visual participation. ImagiDem will explore, analyze, and conceptualize visual participation of young European citizens in order to formulate a model of democratic practices in the 2020s.
ImagiDem addresses visual political participation and democratic practices among young citizens in the European context using a radical triple-strategy: it combines visual ethnography with computational big data minining and analysis, and deploys this combination to a comparative research setting. The project design includes four countries of comparison – Finland, France, Germany, and Portugal – with both an ethnographic and a computational subproject realized in each of them. Both methodological approaches – comparative online ethnography, and computational, machine learning based analysis of large sets of social media image data – are risky and hitherto scarcely explored.
The theoretical challenge ImagiDem takes is to develop pragmatist theorizing of visual justification and engagements on the one hand, and visual cultural toolkits and frames, on the other. With this methodologico-theoretical toolkit, ImagiDem provides overarching analysis of the future of European democracy.

The current political and institutional crises render the future of European democracy uncertain. To gain deeper insights into what the current discontent may lead to, and how to address it for the good of an equal and inclusive democracy, we have to study future political actors, today’s young citizens, and examine what are the means of political action prevalent to them. The public sphere of today’s youth is increasingly dominated by visual content, and therefore the visual dimension of political participation is to be a key concern in research thereof. The current youth’s understanding of political action – building arguments, mobilizing, and participating – is likely to become firmly anchored in repertoires of visual participation. ImagiDem will explore, analyze, and conceptualize visual participation of young European citizens in order to formulate a model of democratic practices in the 2020s.
ImagiDem addresses visual political participation and democratic practices among young citizens in the European context using a radical triple-strategy: it combines visual ethnography with computational big data minining and analysis, and deploys this combination to a comparative research setting. The project design includes four countries of comparison – Finland, France, Germany, and Portugal – with both an ethnographic and a computational subproject realized in each of them. Both methodological approaches – comparative online ethnography, and computational, machine learning based analysis of large sets of social media image data – are risky and hitherto scarcely explored.
The theoretical challenge ImagiDem takes is to develop pragmatist theorizing of visual justification and engagements on the one hand, and visual cultural toolkits and frames, on the other. With this methodologico-theoretical toolkit, ImagiDem provides overarching analysis of the future of European democracy.

Max ERC Funding

1 474 594 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30

Project acronymMIX2FIX

ProjectHybrid, organic-inorganic chalcogenide optoelectronics

Researcher (PI)Thomas STERGIOPOULOS

Host Institution (HI)ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2018-COG

SummaryThe new generation of optoelectronics seeks for emerging semiconductors which combine high performance with low cost. Lead halide organic-inorganic perovskites manifest as excellent optoelectronic materials for this purpose, but at the expense of robustness and environmental compatibility. This presents a major challenge which this research addresses directly. Viable alternatives have to be identified. To tackle this challenge, MIX2FIX proposes to develop a new class of solution-processable optoelectronic devices based on air-stable, non-toxic metal chalcogenides endowed with an organic part, which will facilitate solution-processing and potentially enrich the compounds with the spectacular properties of halide perovskites. To achieve this, the CoG project has set the following objectives: (i) designing and developing optoelectronically-active, organic-inorganic chalcogenide thin films that have never been explored before, by mimicking strategies from established perovskite technology, (ii) devising means to improve their optoelectronic quality so as to be comparable with the best single-crystal semiconductors and (iii) implementing optimized materials into boundary-pushing PV and LED devices. Addressing these objectives will enable the development of novel functional hybrids at the boundaries of perovskite and chalcogenide thin films. With this, optoelectronics with efficiency and stability, comparable or higher than those of lead halide perovskite or chalcopyrite devices, will be demonstrated. This project will therefore permit the transition for emerging optoelectronic materials from toxic lead halide perovskites to green hybrid chalcogenides. Consolidating this unproven but disruptive technology will secure sustainable future for other areas of interest beyond photovoltaics, displays and lighting such as in X-Rays detectors and phototransistors or even beyond optoelectronics, in systems such as batteries and supercapacitors.

The new generation of optoelectronics seeks for emerging semiconductors which combine high performance with low cost. Lead halide organic-inorganic perovskites manifest as excellent optoelectronic materials for this purpose, but at the expense of robustness and environmental compatibility. This presents a major challenge which this research addresses directly. Viable alternatives have to be identified. To tackle this challenge, MIX2FIX proposes to develop a new class of solution-processable optoelectronic devices based on air-stable, non-toxic metal chalcogenides endowed with an organic part, which will facilitate solution-processing and potentially enrich the compounds with the spectacular properties of halide perovskites. To achieve this, the CoG project has set the following objectives: (i) designing and developing optoelectronically-active, organic-inorganic chalcogenide thin films that have never been explored before, by mimicking strategies from established perovskite technology, (ii) devising means to improve their optoelectronic quality so as to be comparable with the best single-crystal semiconductors and (iii) implementing optimized materials into boundary-pushing PV and LED devices. Addressing these objectives will enable the development of novel functional hybrids at the boundaries of perovskite and chalcogenide thin films. With this, optoelectronics with efficiency and stability, comparable or higher than those of lead halide perovskite or chalcopyrite devices, will be demonstrated. This project will therefore permit the transition for emerging optoelectronic materials from toxic lead halide perovskites to green hybrid chalcogenides. Consolidating this unproven but disruptive technology will secure sustainable future for other areas of interest beyond photovoltaics, displays and lighting such as in X-Rays detectors and phototransistors or even beyond optoelectronics, in systems such as batteries and supercapacitors.

Max ERC Funding

2 731 250 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31

Project acronymPREMUS

ProjectPreservation and Efficacy of Music and Singing in Ageing, Aphasia, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Researcher (PI)Teppo SÄRKÄMÖ

Host Institution (HI)HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2018-STG

SummaryFor the human brain, music is a highly complex and versatile stimulus that is closely linked to speech, executive-motor, emotion, and memory networks. In severe ageing-related neurological disorders, such as post-stroke aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia, music and singing may provide a valuable alternative route to verbal and emotional expression and to memory and self-awareness. However, the neural processes underlying this are still poorly understood. Moreover, although there is increasing evidence for the efficacy of musical activities in supporting normal neurocognitive ageing and enhancing neurological recovery, the focus has been on individual-level musical activities, overlooking the enormous social potential of music.
PREMUS will combine modern behavioural and neuroimaging methods in the unique context of cross-sectional and cohort studies and clinical trials to achieve both fundamental and applied research goals. The fundamental goal of PREMUS is to determine the neural basis of singing, music-evoked emotions and memories, and explicit and implicit musical learning (i) across normal ageing, (ii) in aphasia, and (iii) in different stages of AD. The applied goal of PREMUS is to uncover the rehabilitative potential of social musical activities by (iv) exploring the long-term efficacy of choir singing on neurocognitive, emotional, and social functioning in normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment and (v) determining the rehabilitative efficacy of a novel intervention that utilizes adapted choir singing, melodic intonation therapy, and computer-based singing training on verbal, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning in aphasia, together with uncovering the structural and functional neuroplasticity changes underlying the effects of the singing interventions. The outcome of PREMUS will have major scientific, clinical, and societal value as well as enormous practical impact on promoting healthy ageing, aphasia rehabilitation, and dementia care

For the human brain, music is a highly complex and versatile stimulus that is closely linked to speech, executive-motor, emotion, and memory networks. In severe ageing-related neurological disorders, such as post-stroke aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia, music and singing may provide a valuable alternative route to verbal and emotional expression and to memory and self-awareness. However, the neural processes underlying this are still poorly understood. Moreover, although there is increasing evidence for the efficacy of musical activities in supporting normal neurocognitive ageing and enhancing neurological recovery, the focus has been on individual-level musical activities, overlooking the enormous social potential of music.
PREMUS will combine modern behavioural and neuroimaging methods in the unique context of cross-sectional and cohort studies and clinical trials to achieve both fundamental and applied research goals. The fundamental goal of PREMUS is to determine the neural basis of singing, music-evoked emotions and memories, and explicit and implicit musical learning (i) across normal ageing, (ii) in aphasia, and (iii) in different stages of AD. The applied goal of PREMUS is to uncover the rehabilitative potential of social musical activities by (iv) exploring the long-term efficacy of choir singing on neurocognitive, emotional, and social functioning in normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment and (v) determining the rehabilitative efficacy of a novel intervention that utilizes adapted choir singing, melodic intonation therapy, and computer-based singing training on verbal, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning in aphasia, together with uncovering the structural and functional neuroplasticity changes underlying the effects of the singing interventions. The outcome of PREMUS will have major scientific, clinical, and societal value as well as enormous practical impact on promoting healthy ageing, aphasia rehabilitation, and dementia care

Max ERC Funding

1 499 967 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31

Project acronymRICONTRANS

ProjectVisual Culture, Piety and Propaganda: Transfer and Reception of Russian Religious Art in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (16th to early 20th Century)

Researcher (PI)Yuliana BOYCHEVA

Host Institution (HI)IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2018-COG

SummaryThe Russian religious artefacts (icons and ecclesiastical furnishings) held in museums, church or monastery collections in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean constitute a body of valuable monuments hitherto largely neglected by historians and historians of art. These objects acquire various interrelated religious/ideological, political and aesthetic meanings, value and uses. Their transfer and reception is a significant component of the larger process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. It is at the same time a process reflecting the changing cultural and political relations between Russia and the Orthodox communities in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states in the Balkans over a long period of time (16th-20th century). In this dynamic transfer, piety, propaganda and visual culture appear intertwined in historically unexplored and theoretically provoking ways.
The aim of RICONTRANS is to investigate, for the first time in a systematic and interdisciplinary way, this transnational phenomenon of artefact transfer and reception. Applying the cultural transfer approach in combination with the recent challenging openings of art history to visual studies, this project aims to: map the phenomenon in its long history by identifying preserved objects in the region; follow the paths and identify the mediums of this transfer; analyse the dynamics and the moving factors (religious, political, ideological) of this process during its various historical phases; study and classify these objects according to their iconographic and artistic particularities; inquire into the aesthetic, ideological, political, and social factors which shaped the context of the reception of Russian religious art objects in various social, cultural and religious environments; investigate the influence of these transferred artefacts on the visual culture of the host societies.

The Russian religious artefacts (icons and ecclesiastical furnishings) held in museums, church or monastery collections in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean constitute a body of valuable monuments hitherto largely neglected by historians and historians of art. These objects acquire various interrelated religious/ideological, political and aesthetic meanings, value and uses. Their transfer and reception is a significant component of the larger process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. It is at the same time a process reflecting the changing cultural and political relations between Russia and the Orthodox communities in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states in the Balkans over a long period of time (16th-20th century). In this dynamic transfer, piety, propaganda and visual culture appear intertwined in historically unexplored and theoretically provoking ways.
The aim of RICONTRANS is to investigate, for the first time in a systematic and interdisciplinary way, this transnational phenomenon of artefact transfer and reception. Applying the cultural transfer approach in combination with the recent challenging openings of art history to visual studies, this project aims to: map the phenomenon in its long history by identifying preserved objects in the region; follow the paths and identify the mediums of this transfer; analyse the dynamics and the moving factors (religious, political, ideological) of this process during its various historical phases; study and classify these objects according to their iconographic and artistic particularities; inquire into the aesthetic, ideological, political, and social factors which shaped the context of the reception of Russian religious art objects in various social, cultural and religious environments; investigate the influence of these transferred artefacts on the visual culture of the host societies.

Max ERC Funding

1 914 670 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30

Project acronymRUTTER

ProjectMaking the Earth Global: Early Modern Nautical Rutters and the Construction of a Global Concept of the Earth

Researcher (PI)Henrique LEITÃO

Host Institution (HI)FACULDADE DE CIENCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2018-ADG

SummaryEarly modern nautical rutters (sailing directions) are the earliest Western documents that testify to the stable and regular lived experience of traversing the earth’s oceans on a global, planetary scale. Nautical rutters (and ship’s loogbooks) are technical documents that collect and analyse critical information for the successful accomplishment of oceanic navigation. This includes elements of strict nautical nature (courses, distances, and latitudes), as well as information on oceanography (currents and tides), meteorology (winds and storms), geography, geophysics (magnetic declination) and the natural world. Their unique value lies not only in the fact that they are exceptional historical repositories of information about the world on a planetary scale but, more importantly, that they document the emergence of global concepts about the earth. In fact, no earlier documents contain information about the earth on a comparable worldwide scale. Thus, their historical value is peerless. Using these exceptional, yet poorly known sources, the main objective of this project is to write a narrative of the scaling up of a scientific description of the earth in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the lived experience of travelling and observing the earth in long-distance sea voyages. As a preliminary task, a systematic search, identification and classification of the information contained in early modern Iberian rutters and ship’s logbooks will be performed. This will be followed by an extensive multidisciplinary study of their content aiming at radically improving our present knowledge of the historical process that led to the formation of global concepts about the earth.

Early modern nautical rutters (sailing directions) are the earliest Western documents that testify to the stable and regular lived experience of traversing the earth’s oceans on a global, planetary scale. Nautical rutters (and ship’s loogbooks) are technical documents that collect and analyse critical information for the successful accomplishment of oceanic navigation. This includes elements of strict nautical nature (courses, distances, and latitudes), as well as information on oceanography (currents and tides), meteorology (winds and storms), geography, geophysics (magnetic declination) and the natural world. Their unique value lies not only in the fact that they are exceptional historical repositories of information about the world on a planetary scale but, more importantly, that they document the emergence of global concepts about the earth. In fact, no earlier documents contain information about the earth on a comparable worldwide scale. Thus, their historical value is peerless. Using these exceptional, yet poorly known sources, the main objective of this project is to write a narrative of the scaling up of a scientific description of the earth in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the lived experience of travelling and observing the earth in long-distance sea voyages. As a preliminary task, a systematic search, identification and classification of the information contained in early modern Iberian rutters and ship’s logbooks will be performed. This will be followed by an extensive multidisciplinary study of their content aiming at radically improving our present knowledge of the historical process that led to the formation of global concepts about the earth.